


Together We Will Take the Road...

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Fourth Age, General
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2011-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-28 17:53:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 5,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3864183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Together We Will Take the Road that Leads Into the West: or, Gimli And Legolas Go To Valinor. A drabble series (every chapter a 100-word true drabble) written for Back To Middle-Earth Month 2011, following the daily B2MEM prompts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Memory Is Not What the Heart Desires

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

**Today's Challenge (Day One):**  
_Voltaire said that it's not enough to conquer: one must learn to seduce. Write a story or poem or create artwork where seduction plays a central role._

**Memory is Not What the Heart Desires**

**  
**

Legolas looks up from planing timber:  
  
"Come with me, Gimli."   
  
About to roar with laughter, he realises the Elf is serious.  
  
"To – _Valinor?_ Your Undying Lands?  Even assuming I could get there – which you must admit is a stretch in itself – what in Mahal's name would I do? I doubt there's much opportunity for Dwarven crafts!"  
  
"Oh, I don't know."  Legolas inspects his work. "Lady Galadriel is renowned for her love of smith-work, after all...."  
  
The memory of that hair, that voice, those eyes... he is seduced.  
  
"You'd only fall overboard on your own watching gulls, or something.  I'll come."  
  
~~~


	2. The Stiff Necks of Elves

**Today's Challenge (Day Two):**  
_Defiance is defined as the willingness to contend or fight. Write a story or poem or create artwork where the characters defy authority in some way._

_  
_

**The Stiff Necks of Elves**

"Are you out of your _mind?_ "  Thranduil stares aghast across the chamber at his son.  

"Take one of the _Naugrim_ on the Straight Road into the West?  Even were he to survive the passage – what in Middle-earth makes you think those stiff-necked Noldor and Vanyar, much less the Valar, would admit him?  I readily grant you that Gimli Gloinsson is no ordinary Dwarf – but this!"

"If Bilbo, Frodo, and by all accounts Sam were worthy, then so is Gimli Elf-friend.They will admit him." Legolas folds his arms, lifts his chin, and glares back. "Or they will not admit me."

~~~


	3. Farewell They Bade to their Free People

**Today's Challenge (Day 28):** _There was no avoiding it; the letter had to be composed...Write a story or poem inspired by this line (you do not need to use the exact quote)_

_  
_

**Farewell they Bade to their Free People**

"I, Gimli Glóinsson Gróinsson, Lord of Aglarond, being of sound mind –"   _Debatable_ , the Dwarf snorts as he dips quill in ink, _when my people hear I intend to take ship into the Uttermost West with Legolas Thranduilion!_   "– do hereby thus bequeath and bestow my worldly goods:"   
  
"To you, Father," Legolas' elegant _tengwar_ flows across the parchment, "I leave the care of our people here who choose not to follow me; Falastir will lead them northward back to Eryn Lasgalen when they are ready, leaving Ithilien restored…"  
  
 _Last wills and testaments… from two who hope to journey to the Undying Lands._ __  
  
~~~


	4. Thy Heart Shall Then Rest in the Forest No More

**Today's Challenge (Day 8):**  
 _From the lone shieling of the misty island,_  
Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas -  
Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland,  
And we in dreams behold the Hebrides!  
Fair these broad meads, these hoary woods are grand;  
But we are exiles from our fathers' land.  
  
\- from the "Canadian Boat Song", attributed to John Galt  
  
Write a story or poem or create a piece of artwork reflecting identification with or connection to one's land, country or culture. 

 

**Thy Heart Shall Then Rest in the Forest No More**

**  
**

On their last night, he finds himself wandering through Ithilien's woods, murmuring to the saplings: _I planted you, but I shall not see you grow to full height…_ He spends hours high in the sweet-smelling canopy, the fir-needles whispering to him of another forest, far away.  
  
 _For the green leaves was I named, and for an Age the sap's rise and fall was my life's rhythm. Yet even as Taur-nu-fuin is reborn Eryn Lasgalen from the darkness we so long fought, I must depart._  
  
The Sea-longing's shot through with pain: _I go to Elvenhome… an exile from my father's land._  
  
~~~  
  
 _Taur-nu-fuin_ : the Forest-under-Night (Mirkwood)


	5. Sworn Word May Strengthen Quaking Heart

**Today's Challenge:**  
_"There would be no one to frighten you if you refused to be afraid." -Gandhi. Write a story or poem or create artwork where the character conquers his or her fears._

 

**Sworn Word May Strengthen Quaking Heart**

Once he steps on to that deck, there's no going back.  
  
 _We'll founder. Call that a ship? It's an eggshell. I've seen storms down at Dol Amroth; waves high as the Dwarrowdelf. Will we even find this Straight Road, this 'mighty bridge invisible'?_  
  
But none of these are the fear which wakes him in the watches of the night; _they will not let me in. Why should High-Elves, Valar, admit one to their eyes stunted, rough, unlovely? And then – I'll drift forever on some otherworldly ocean, alone..._  
  
Legolas holds out his hand. Gimli takes a deep breath – and steps forward.  
  
~~~  
  



	6. The Elven-King's Choice

**Today's Challenge (Day 9):**  
_Write a story or poem or create artwork where the characters have to decide between loyalty or betrayal._

**The Elven-King's Choice**

Thranduil begins to sense it in dream; knows it the moment he wakes, from the leaden weight of sorrow which settles over his heart. _He is gone._

_He had no choice,_ he writes to Celeborn, who alone may understand; _…which means that, one day, I must choose. I always thought I would see the last of the willing to the Havens; and then, perhaps, fade with the rest into the sunlight and leaf-shadow of the woods that bore us. But now…_

My people, here; my father and my son in Valinor. To whom should I be loyal – and whom betray?

~~~

(Thranduil's father, Oropher, was killed on the Dagorlad in the war of the Last Alliance. We don't know for sure whether he was still in Mandos when Legolas arrived in Valinor - maybe later in this series we'll find out...)


	7. We Will Pass the Wide Waters Lonely Sailing

**Today's Challenge (Day 5):**  
_Write a story or poem or create artwork that will illustrate the consequences of isolation._

 

**We Will Pass the Wide Waters Lonely Sailing**

  
For a week out of Tolfalas they'd hugged the coast of Gondor; now the world is only sky, sea, horizon. They talked endlessly, at first, exchanging memories, fears, hopes... but the words have largely run out. Fishing or steering, there is little to do but think – kin, friends, the daily round are fallen away, and wind and wave strip the soul naked. They both begin to imagine how Frodo must have felt beneath the Lidless Eye. _Who are you? Why do you come? What do you seek?_

Gimli whittles endless fish-hooks; at the helm Legolas gazes, unresting, into the West.

~~~


	8. Gold Shall Have No Dominion

**Today's Challenge (Day 6):**  
_Greed is good! Write a story or poem or create artwork that will prove or disprove this statement._

_  
_

**Gold Shall Have No Dominion**

_Why am I here?_ Gimli asks himself the question the endless waves repeat over and over. _What makes me think I have any right..._  
  
Against his heart, inside his jerkin, the crystal's weight presses; he brings it out, reverently undoes its wrapping. Within their sparkling transparent setting the gleaming strands rest just as he once lovingly coiled them.  
  
 _You could have asked for gold, gems, riches. Yet the memory of her grace, beauty, generosity was more than all these._  
  
"I wondered whether you had brought it." Legolas is smiling. "Fear not, Elf-friend; the Lady will not have forgotten."  
  
~~~


	9. Meat was Hard to Come By

**Today's Challenge:**  
_The cuisine of the Shire is unsurpassed. Write a story or poem, or create a work of art, featuring food._

**Meat was Hard to Come By**

The ship's well-provisioned with _lembas_ , dried fruits and vegetables; they catch fish, trap dew and rainwater for drinking. Yet half-way across the Great Sea, the variety's wearing thin.  
  
"We've been through leaner times," Gimli admits, munching dried apple. "Yet I long for a good roast, or a flagon of ale!"  
  
"And I for fruit fresh, not dried," Legolas agrees. "Fear not; if the legends of Valinor are true then there we'll find every taste we could desire..."  
  
And when they walk through Tol Eressea's market, gazing at stalls piled high with fish, flesh, fruits, Gimli admits the Elf was right.  
  
~~~


	10. Flotsam and Jetsam

**Today's Challenge (Day 13):**   
_Write a story or poem or create artwork featuring unanswered requests, prayers or pleas._

 

**Flotsam and Jetsam**

  
Legolas had been right; the bank of cloud at the very edge of a flawless blue sky grew, spread as the swell rose, became a violent storm.

Now the Elf battles to hold the helm steady. Slumped retching in the heaving bows, Gimli prays: _Mahal, if ever I was faithful, just kill me now..._ Dimly he's aware of Legolas murmuring, _"A Ulu, hîr i aearon..."_

It's the second prayer that's answered; just as Gimli can endure no more, the wind begins to drop and the clouds clear. Soon the sea's glass again. Legolas sighs with relief: "I think we're through."

~~~

_A Ulu, hîr i aearon.._ \- O Ulmo, Lord of Waters.  (Various sites on the Web give _Ulu_ as the Sindarin form of Ulmo, but none with any JRRT citation to back it up. If anyone can prove or disprove this one that would satisfy my geeky side!)


	11. Passing the Test

**Today's challenge (Day 11):** _Write a story or poem or create artwork where characters make sacrifices in order to achieve their goals._

 

**Passing the Test**

When Ulmo comes before her in dream, shows her the small grey ship crewed by Elf and Dwarf braving the Great Sea, Galadriel's dumbfounded.  
  
She knows she has been offered the chance to plead their case. Yet the mere thought of the Máhanaxar, kneeling before Manwë in the Ring of Doom, makes her cheeks flame.  
  
 _But who will speak for them else?  
_  
She saddles a palfrey, pulls on cloak and hood, rides westward. Approaching the Calacirya she reins in, hesitating; but the sacrifice of her pride is surely the least owed to such unswerving loyalty and love. She rides on.  
  
~~~  
  
"It is strange indeed; that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But... it may be that [Galadriel], being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him." ( _LoTR_ Appendix A)


	12. Words Unheard Were Spoken Then

**Today's Challenge:** _  
Hobbits are well known for their gift-giving traditions. Write a story or poem in which the exchange of gifts is featured, or use "gifting" as a theme for a piece of art._

 

**Words Unheard Were Spoken Then**

Galadriel walks steadily into the great ring of the Máhanaxar, slowly kneels, bows her head.  When she looks up, _they_ have embodied around her. Beautiful and terrible; they do not change.  
  
"I crave audience of the Powers..." She tells of Ulmo's vision; makes her plea, to open the Straight Way to a child of Aulë.  
  
"And for this boon never before granted, daughter," Manwë's voice echoes in her head, "what wilt _thou_ give?"  
  
She smiles.  "My Lords, I will tell you a tale; of understanding between exiles, compassion between foes, and ancient enmity transformed to love..."  
  
~~~


	13. The Gift of a Fruitful Heart

**Today's Challenge:** _The act of kindness or hospitability usually comes from a generous heart. Write a story or poem, or create a piece of art where your character displays this virtue._

 

**The Gift of a Fruitful Heart**   
  


_"Another?_ "  Tulkas protests noisily. "Thrice in three Ages – Tuor, Eärendil, _periain_ – now this?"  
  
Aulë retorts; the debate rages.  Eventually Manwë speaks:  
  
"What sayest thou, Yavanna? Oft have the People of Stone been ungentle unto the works of thy hands..."  
  
"'Tis true," Kementári says softly. "Yet long have I watched over all that grows in Middle-earth; and rarely have I found any Child of Aulë willing to venture so far in friendship with one of the Firstborn beneath the trees, even unto Fangorn's domain of Aldalómë!  I would give this stone-master welcome. Let them pass."  
  
~~~  
  
 _Kementári:_ Queen of the Earth, one of Yavanna's titles.  
 _Aldalómë:_ "Tree-twilight", one of the many names by which Fangorn refers to his forest.


	14. Then World Behind and Home Ahead

**Today's Challenge (Day 30):** _"You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right."_ \--Maya Angelou _. Write a story or poem, or create a piece of art on the theme of leaving or returning home.  
_

 

**Then World Behind and Home Ahead**

At last, when they think themselves forever lost, it happens. Gimli wakes one night with a sudden sensation that the world is dropping away beneath him. Legolas stands motionless in the bows, the helm abandoned; Gimli can see nothing, hear nothing, they drift through a grey curtain of soft rain...  
  
 And then the mist rolls away, the ocean sparkling like silver glass,  and before them are green shores lit by sunrise. He looks at the light shining from Legolas' face, and understands:  
  
 _We left behind forever the only land and kin we ever knew, and yet... he is coming home._  
  
~~~  
  
"And it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise." (ROTK, Book 6, Chapter IX: The Grey Havens)  
  



	15. In the Wind from the Sea

**Today's Challenge (Day 20):**  
_Write a story or poem or create an artwork in which a character unaccustomed to acting as a leader must make an important decision._

 

**In the Wind from the Sea**

  
"You cannot let them land!"

"A Stunted One? Unheard-of!"

Telpelambe battles rising panic, assailed by a gathering crowd. _Why_ did Málagaiar choose today for mainland business, asking his nephew to do harbour-master's duty at Avallónë's quayside?  He'd thought it a perfect opportunity to relax on the sea-wall in the sun...

The Dwarf and Elf in the ship's bows stand regarding him with folded arms; he really does _not_ want to argue with them. Then inspiration strikes:

"The Straight Way opened for them.  So this must be the Valar's will!"

With a flourish, he declaims:  "Welcome to Tol Eressëa, my lords."

~~~

_Telpelambe_ \- Silver-tongue (Telerin)  
 _Málagaiar_ _-_ Loving-sea (Telerin) - Telerin bodged together by me with help from [Ardalambion.](http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/)

.


	16. The Fellowship of the Smiths

**Today's Challenge (Day 7):**  
_Overcoming prejudices is as hard in Middle-earth as in our primary universe. Write a story or poem or create artwork where the characters try to reach across racial or gender or any other barrier._

**The Fellowship of the Smiths**

  
At first, they are stared at wherever they go:

_"Ela! Casar!"_

"Have the Moriquendi stooped even to _this_?"

That has Legolas whirling round; it's Gimli who catches his wrist:

" _No_."

Then, walking through Avallonë's market one afternoon, they cross paths with a Noldo who bows and addresses them in hesitant Westron:

"Pardon my accosting you, my friends. I am Rusnathron; I am _mírdain_ – 'of-the-smiths'?" Legolas nods, understanding. "Since I heard one of the Children of Aulë was among us I have much desired to speak with Master Gimli.  Would you both agree to honour me by dining at my house?"

~~  
 _Ela! Casar!_ Look! A Dwarf! (Quenya)  
 _mírdain_ – smiths (Sindarin)


	17. From the Ashes a Fire Shall be Woken

**Today's challenge (Day 29):** _"Darkness is only driven out with light, not more darkness." --Martin Luther King, Jr.  Write a story or poem or create artwork where your character battles and overcomes their darkest hour._

 

**From the Ashes a Fire Shall be Woken**

"That must have been a bad moment," Rusnathron remarks.  
  
"A few thousand orcs storming Helm's Deep in pouring rain?" Gimli snorts.   
  
"'Twas a dark hour," Legolas agrees, "yet not the darkest..."    
  
Rusnathron raises an eyebrow, refilling Legolas' goblet.  
  
"Before the Black Gate," the Elf whispers. "Sauron's messenger brandished Sam's sword, and Frodo's mithril-coat.  I would have gone willingly enough to my death, we all would – but to fall thinking we left Middle-earth the Dark Lord's, that the Quest had failed..."  
  
"Yet you fought on."   
  
Both nod.  
  
"For Frodo, friendship, and the Fellowship. And though all hope seemed lost... the Light prevailed."  
  
~~~


	18. Of Times There Were Before

**Today's Challenge (Day Ten):**  
_Start a story or poem with Charles Dickens' famous opening line from_ A Tale of Two Cities _: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."_  
  


  
**Of Times There Were Before**   


  
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…"  Cross-legged on a cushion after Rusnathron's dinner, Legolas takes a draught of his wine.

"On Tol Eressëa the Ring-Quest is but legend and rumour," the Noldo admits ruefully; "for though the _periain_ Bilbo and Frodo dwelt here awhile, Master Frodo little desired to speak of it."

"No wonder!" Gimli interjects gruffly. "It had cost him dear enough!"

"Hardship, peril, battle, bearing the fate of all Middle-earth," Legolas says softly; "and yet Dwarf, Elf, Men and Halflings forged bonds of fellowship beyond any breaking."

Rusnathron nods. "So I see."

~~~


	19. A Line Unbroken

_**Today's Challenge (Day 19):** Write a story or create a piece of artwork centred on meetings or reunions. _

**A Line Unbroken**

  
"This way."  Elrond leads Legolas under an archway, stepping back discreetly as they reach a sunlit courtyard.

The Elf who rises in greeting is a fraction taller, the nose a little more hawklike, but otherwise... he looks into a mirror. Legolas gasps.

"I did tell you, Oropher, that he was always said to favour you more than Thranduil," Elrond observes smiling.

Legolas drops to one knee, bows his head; but his grandfather draws him to his feet and into a fierce embrace.

"Welcome. Welcome, my grandson!" He frowns. "Now – what is all this about a Dwarf?"

~~~


	20. The Voices of My People That Have Gone Before Me

**Today's Challenge (Day 16):**  
_A gentle breeze brushed the hilltop, combing the ruins..._  
  
 _Write a story or poem that starts with this line or create a piece of art that reflects this line.  
_  

  
**The Voices of My People That Have Gone Before Me**   


**  
**

"A gentle breeze brushed the hilltop, combing the ruins of Dol Guldur, and I thought I heard the voices of our captives and our dead... lost souls..." Legolas buries his face in his hands.  
  
Oropher strokes his grandson's shoulder. "The Dark Lord's twisted malice was great, his arm long. But know this; many such spirits found their way to Mandos, and I walked among them. Some had been broken, almost beyond repair – but Námo's power to heal is great, and his patience without end. They will be whole again."  
  
Legolas looks up, eyes bright with unshed tears, and nods.  
  
~~~  
  
 _Dol Guldur_ means "hill of dark magic".  _Námo_ is the correct name of the Vala usually known as Mandos after the Halls he presides over.


	21. In This Far Land Beneath the Trees

**Today's Challenge (Day 22):** _Refugee issues are our issues; their plight is our plight. Write a story or poem or create artwork that illustrates the situation of some displaced group in Middle-earth._  
  
Apologies for having let the author's notes end up longer than the piece!

  
**In This Far Land Beneath the Trees**   


**  
**

"When first our people began to dock at Alqualondë…" Oropher shakes his head. "Bewildered, excited, fearful – had they reached their eternal home, or returned two Ages to the Deep-Elves' domination?"  
  
His grandson grimaces.  "So said many of my Ithilien folk, when I told them I must sail…"  
  
"So Námo persuaded me the time was finally come to leave Mandos; that though I had once captained so many of my subjects to their deaths, now I should lead them in life.  West of the Pelóri the forests are vast, and fair. Will you join us there?"  
  
Legolas smiles. "One day.  Not yet."  
  
~~~

_Deep-Elves:_   the Noldor.  
  
Appendix B to the _History of Galadriel and Celeborn_ in _Unfinished Tales_ , "The Sindarin Princes of the Silvan Elves" makes fairly clear that Oropher and the Silvan Elves moved into northern Mirkwood in the Second Age partly because Oropher was unhappy about the growing power of the Dwarves in Moria, and partly to escape Galadriel and Celeborn's domination of Lothlórien.  
  
"though I had once captained so many of our folk to their deaths…"  Oropher led the Silvan Elves' contingent at the Battle of Dagorlad before the gates of Mordor in II 3434. According to the same section of Unfinished Tales:  "Oropher was slain in the first assault upon Mordor, rushing forward at the head of his most doughty warriors before Gil-galad had given the signal to advance. Thranduil his son survived, but when the war ended and Sauron was slain (as it seemed) he led back home barely a third of the army that had marched to war."  My personal hunch is that guilt over those losses, and his personal part in perhaps making them greater than they might have been, may have kept Oropher in Mandos for more than an Age.  
  
The idea that, when large numbers of the Sindarin Elves of the Greenwood finally begin to arrive in Aman, they might (given potential overcrowding east of the Pelóri) settle in woodland further West, to have some space away from all those pesky Noldor, was borrowed from [](http://curiouswombat.livejournal.com/profile)[**curiouswombat**](http://curiouswombat.livejournal.com/) .


	22. Grace Obtained

Originally written for the "Fountains" challenge over at Livejournal's [](http://community.livejournal.com/tolkien_weekly/profile)[**tolkien_weekly**](http://community.livejournal.com/tolkien_weekly/) , but inserted here as a second response to the Day 19 "meetings/reunions" prompt:

  
**Grace Obtained**   


**  
**

"Go _on_."  Legolas nudges the hesitating Dwarf forward.  
  
She sits beneath the cherry-tree's falling fronds, watching light and leaf-shadow playing across white stone. Gimli approaches, bows so low his beard brushes the ground.  
  
"Lady, I-I-" he stammers; then remembers the crystal next his heart, and brings it out.  
  
"Many years have I borne this faithfully" – now his long-dammed-up yearning fountains joyfully forth – "yet it is to radiant reality as those dancing light-flecks to the Sun herself."  
  
Galadriel laughs, the unexpectedly-deep music he so loved.   
  
"Your courtesy is undimmed, Gimli son of Gloin," she remarks; and his happiness is complete.  
  
~~~


	23. In a Far Green Country

Not written for one of the B2MEM prompts, but for the LiveJournal  tolkien_weekly Loving Companionship challenge:

 

**In a Far Green Country**

Legolas knows where to find the Dwarf: Gimli stands, leaning heavily on his axe, over the simple headstone marking the grave where Frodo and Sam lie.

"You knew we were like to find them already gone," he says softly.

Gimli grunts, says nothing for a long moment.

"I knew. And yet I hoped..."

Legolas rests a hand wordlessly on his shoulder.

"Only we two left, now," Gimli mutters. "And this Dwarf's old bones ache."

The Elf chuckles. "Then why are you standing on this windy headland? Come..."

They turn and walk slowly away downhill, together.

~~~


	24. The World Was Fair in Durins Day

**Today's Challenge (Day 23):** _Everyone avoided the tower. It was believed to have ..._   
_Write a story or poem that starts with this line or create a piece of art that reflects this line._

**The World Was Fair in Durin's Day**

  


_Everyone avoided the tower. It was believed to have been at its foot, at Finwë's door, that Fëanor first drew sword on a kinsman…_ Some such Elvish legend. Gimli is not so easily put off; he wishes to examine the stonework. Absorbed, he does not notice the raven-haired Noldo emerge, and is astounded when he is addressed in Khuzdul:  
  
"Good day, Master Dwarf."  
  
"Y-you speak my tongue?"  
  
"Rustily from disuse, I fear. Tell me,"  wistfully, "do the West-gates of Khazad-dûm stand yet?"  
  
Pride, grief, heartsickness for home swell together at the thought. "They do."  
  
Celebrimbor bows low. "I am glad."  
  
~~~

We don't know whether or not Celebrimbor's been re-embodied after his time in Mandos (he was slain by Sauron during the Second Age after Sauron seized the Rings of Power), but it seems possible – as did the idea that he might then dwell in his ancestral home, his great-uncle Finwë's house in Tirion (since his father and grandfather, Curufin and Fëanor, moved to a fortress up in Formenos in the remote north of Aman after the making of the Silmarils). I don't know for sure whether Finwë's house had towers either, but according to the _Sil_ , Tirion's buildings were very tower-y.  Fëanor's drawing sword on his half-brother Fingolfin at the door of their father's house was infamously the first breaking of the peace of Valinor after Morgoth had started persuading the Noldor to forge weapons.  
  
Nor do we know for certain whether Celebrimbor spoke Khuzdul, which the Dwarves were generally very loath to teach to other races; but we do know that his father Curufin spoke it ("Curufin was most interested in the alien language of the Dwarves, being the only one of the Noldor to win their friendship. It was from him that the loremasters obtained such knowledge as they could of the Khuzdûl." – _HoME,_ _The Peoples of Middle-earth_ ) and if Curufin had learned it, surely his son Celebrimbor, the most celebrated Dwarf-friend of the Second Age who together with the Dwarf Narvi made the great West-gates of Moria, might also have done so?


	25. Swift in Anger, Quick to Laugh

**Today's Challenge:**  
_"Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."_ \- _Friedrich Schiller. Write a story or poem or create artwork that illustrates this quotation._

 

**Swift in Anger, Quick to Laugh**

"Watch this."  The Valar crowd round, curious.  
  
Down on Avallonë's sea-wall, Gimli is delicately carving soapstone for a fascinated Elf-child.  A passing Teler's sarcastic comment makes the Elfling's lip tremble;  Aulë groans:  
  
"Bad, _bad_ idea. You'd think after we proclaimed our welcome – but they don't learn…"  
  
Gimli, without looking up, scoops up some wet seaweed and throws it. Soaring in a graceful arc it lands precisely at the Teler's feet; he steps on it, slithers – and topples flailing into the ocean.  Legolas, watching, grins broadly.  
  
Tulkas roars with laughter, clapping the scowling Ulmo on the back. Yavanna sighs:  
  
"Oh, _dear_ …"  
  
~~~


	26. Where Both Our Hearts May Rest

**Today's Challenge (Day 12):** _Elves are one with Nature. What about Men? Hobbits? Dwarves? Write a story or poem or create artwork where the way different races relate to Nature is shown._

**Where Both Our Hearts May Rest**

**  
**

They know, without words, when they have found the right place. Half a league outside Alqualondë; close to the sea and the ships and singers of Legolas' Teler kin, the green hillside dappled with woodland, sheltered by the dazzling rose-coloured cliffs of the Pelóri soaring behind.  
  
Legolas wanders among the trees, murmuring to them, listening; then climbs a little further uphill to where Gimli sits, running his hand over a vein of quartz in an outcrop of granite, lost in thought.  
  
"Good stone, this," the Dwarf murmurs absently. "'Twill build us a solid house."  They both nod; content.  
  
~~~


	27. The Making of Things

**Today's Challenge (Day 14):** _Write a story or create a piece of art centred on freedom of religion (or lack thereof), heresy, and/or religious rites._

**The Making of Things**

Once the house was finished, Gimli built the forge. Now he steps inside, shuts the door. Not even Legolas will witness this.  
  
Slowly, precisely, he lays each tool in its prescribed place; hammer, stake, fuller, swage. As he works, he chants in ancient tongue words handed down from his longfathers.  
  
It is complete; he steps back, bowing low before the workbench and then the anvil. And then...  
  
He feels, rather than sees, the presence; hears the voice only in his head, though he knows it speaks Khuzdul. His Maker calls him by his true, his secret name; _Welcome, my son._  
  
~~~  
  
"The making of things is in my heart from my own making by thee": Aulë to Ilúvatar on why he created the Dwarves, _Of Aulë and Yavanna, The Silmarillion._  
  
"Their own secret and 'inner' names, their true names, the Dwarves have never revealed to anyone of alien race. Not even on their tombs do they inscribe them." - _LoTR_ Appendix F.

(And in case I am suspected of being a secret blacksmith on the side, the tool names all come from [here...](http://www.glendaleforge.co.uk/))


	28. There Hammer on the Anvil Smote

**Today's Challenge (Day 26):**  
_"Pride is still aiming at the best houses: Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell; aspiring to be angels men rebel."_  
\--Alexander Pope   
  
How would a character not allowed to express his or her thoughts, creativity, or opinion act out? 

**There Hammer on the Anvil Smote**

His thumbs itch. Too long since he put hammer to anvil or heated metal. He could visit the town smithies, but begging time at an Elf's forge... He broods in silence, worrying Legolas. Finally, he goes to Celebrimbor.  
  
The Elven-smith listens, reflects: "I have it."  
  
They ride together, Gimli on a borrowed mule, beyond Valmar's pealing bells, to a great hillside cavern. A wave of heat, metal's tangy smell, the hammer's pulse through his boot-soles… and then they both bow low as a towering figure emerges, tools resting easy in vast hands, and the Smith and Maker calls them in.  
  
~~~


	29. Long Ago They Sailed Away

**Today's Challenge (Day 25):**  
_She knelt on the floor, carefully picking up the shards of glass. Why did it have to be this one that broke?_

**Long Ago They Sailed Away**

  
She knelt on the floor, carefully picking up the shards of glass. _Why did it have to be this one that broke?_   Of all the nursery items long-packed-away, brought out for each new royal generation?

Her grandfather had often told her how his great friend Gimli the Dwarf had hand-blown each perfect sphere; how Legolas the Elf-prince painted them with exquisite swirling patterns, in transparent colours that threw dancing rainbows around her bedroom walls when the mobile danced in the sunlit breeze.

_And now it is gone, and they will never make another._ She nursed the broken fragments, and wept.

~~~~


	30. I'll Linger Here, and Will Not Come

**Today's Challenge (Day 3):**  
_Some people have difficulty embracing changes and moving on. Write a story or poem or create artwork that shows the consequences of refusing to change.  
_

  
**I'll Linger Here, and Will Not Come**

  
_"Come with me"_ , he had said. A new Greenwood, away to the South, in the country called Ithilien. To restore land and forests poisoned by orc-kind, to make all green and glad and growing for the new King of Men.

But then... she'd seen it in his eyes; the Sea had called him. One day, soon or late, he would sail. Leave behind the woods, the trees, the good green earth. She was as unwilling as her ancestors had been.

So, though it broke her heart, she'd refused him; and slowly, as the Age passed away, she began to fade...

~~~  
  
(It's believed that most of Thranduil's Wood-Elves were of Sindar, not Avari, descent; but I've always liked the idea that a few of the Avari who had strayed west of the Blue Mountains might have got mixed up with them down the Ages...)


	31. Across So Wide a Sea

_**Today's Challenge (Day 21):**   The words West and East are often used in the works of Tolkien. Write a story or poem or create an artwork that uses these words as the central focus, whether as cardinals, regions, or as metaphors._   
  


**  
Across So Wide a Sea**

**  
**

At sunset Gimli hobbles, very slowly, outside;  Legolas tucks a rug about him and they sit gazing East, as they have so many times.   
  
"Do you ever wonder…?" the Elf asks softly.  
  
Gimli grunts.  "'Tis Men's Age, now. My folk are dwindling, just like –"  
  
He breaks off;  both know Legolas still hopes against hope that his father will one day bring West the last of his people.  
  
"And if Mandos does keep a special Hall for Dwarves – well, I'll soon be finding out."  
  
No more words;  they need none. Together they watch the light fade over the vast, empty Sea.  
  
~~~


	32. Let Them a Journey New Begin

**Today's Challenge (Day 27):** _Write a story or poem, or create a piece of art where your character rises above themselves to follow their dreams._

  
**Let Them a Journey New Begin**   


**  
**

Over many years, by letter and face-to-face, the conversation's repeated. Thranduil will not abandon his people; Celeborn argues that they need neither leading in battle nor warding from the Necromancer. Many have taken ship; the Unwilling are vanishing into the forest depths. Those closest to the Elven-king urge him to go, lest he too begin to Fade…  
  
"So I should leave my realm for a strange land full of Fair-elves and Kin-slayers?"   
  
" _And_ Sea-elves and Grey-elves," Celeborn insists. "Including – your son."  
  
Pride, distrust, stubbornness battle Age-old longing. At last word comes to Imladris; the Elven-king has decided. He will sail.  
  
~~~


	33. Under a Swift Sunrise

**Today's Challenge (Day 24):**   
_Write a story or poem or create artwork using one or more animals as symbols, omens, or metaphors._

 

**Under a Swift Sunrise**

  
When he begins dreaming of seabirds calling, he knows not why – the sea-longing's half an Age past; yet he's restless.

One night he leaves the trees, rides by starlight through the Calacirya down to Alqualondë.  Before dawn he's on the quayside.

As the clouds turn rose-gold he glimpses something, silhouetted against the rising sun; strains to see to the horizon. It draws closer; a grey ship...

The Elf standing in the bows doesn't wait for the gangplank to be lowered. The moment they nudge the quay, he vaults the rail and pulls Legolas into his arms:

"My son. _My son!"_  


  
_  
_~~~~

_The End_

_  
_

Many thanks to: the [Silmarillion Writers' Guild](http://community.livejournal.com/silwritersguild/) and [Many Paths to Tread](http://www.lotrgfic.com/) for organising Back to Middle-Earth Month 2011, and producing the lovely passport stamps (you can see my completed and stamped passport [here](http://azalaisdep.livejournal.com/84900.html)); and everyone on LiveJournal and the H-A mailing list who commented and encouraged me through the month. It was fun!


End file.
